Resales and Staircasing

Resales

From time to time, properties originally sold under Shared Ownership become available for resale. Look for resale properties on our property search pages and register with us by completing a My4walls application form so that we can tell you about any new resale properties as they become available.

Selling your shared ownership home

If you are a shared owner it is easy for you to move on by selling the share you own. You can do this by assigning your shared ownership lease to another party. Assignment is the term used to describe the transfer of the lease to another person(s).

You must tell your Housing Association if you wish to sell before you look for a purchaser. This is because they may have the right to nominate a person to buy your share. You will also need to obtain an open market valuation of your property so that your Housing Association may agree the maximum sale price for your share. Your Housing Association will have a panel of surveyors and can usually arrange this on your behalf, you will be responsible for the cost of the valuation. This will normally be around £150.

 

You will have to instruct a solicitor to act in the sale of the property for you once you have found a buyer. Solicitors fees would normally be around £600. The my4walls panel of Independant Mortgage Advisors and Solicitors can be found on the financial information page.

Your Housing Association will be able to give you more information on selling your home.

Buying Extra Shares in Your Home

Buying a shared ownership home is a great way of getting your foot on the home ownership ladder as at anytime you can buy more shares in your home. This is called staircasing.

You can usually purchase further shares in stages of 10% or 25% depending what is says in your lease. If you wish to staircase and purchase additional shares you will need to inform your Housing Association. You will also need to obtain an open market valuation of your property so that your Housing Association can agree with you how much you will pay for the additional shares.

You will be responsible for the cost of the valuation and will also have to instruct a solicitor to act for you in the purchase of the additional shares. You would normally be looking at around £150 for the valuation and £300 for solicitors fees. In addition your Housing Association may charge an administration fee for the work involved in dealing with your staircasing. They can give you more information on this and the process for purchasing extra shares in your home.